State Receives Overwhelming Response from IT Community on Best Way to Consolidate Information Technology Infrastructure to Save Taxpayer Dollars

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this summer, the Information Services Division of the Office of State Finance (OSF) sent out a request to the nation's IT community asking for submissions on the best ways the state could reduce costs and increase efficiencies in the state's technology infrastructure.

The response was overwhelming: in all, the office received 34 bid responses representing more than 90 ideas on how the state could consolidate nearly all aspects of its 130 agencies' IT operations. 

"We were excited with the vast response to our initial proposal because it shows that there are sustainable, innovative solutions for the state of Oklahoma that we might not have found through our conventional means of procurement," said Alex Z. Pettit, Oklahoma's chief information officer. "What's even better; the solutions in all of the responses have the capability of significant savings for our state's current information technology infrastructure."

Due to the volume of responses received, the state has established two evaluation teams of the state's most technically skilled personnel to begin reviewing the responses. A winner will be announced in the next several weeks. 

Since taking office in 2011, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has made it a priority to create a sustainable IT model to meet the needs of the State.  At the time the IT consolidation plan was proposed, state agencies had 129 e-mail and Blackberry servers, 25 agencies were running their own e-mail accounts and the state had 30 data center locations.

"The emphasis on IT consolidation has helped address that duplication and overlap of IT services among state agencies," said Governor Fallin. "We've taken steps to modernize our technology infrastructure, which has already given us a significant return on our efforts and saved taxpayers millions of dollars."

Fallin added, "As we move forward, the next phase of our IT consolidation plan will continue to reduce complexities, further improve customer service and save even more Oklahoma taxpayer dollars."

The 34 responses included ideas for solutions for six categories within the state's IT infrastructure: Application Development; Networking; Server Virtualization; Desktop Administration; Storage, and Document Imaging. The state plans to solicit responses annually in different categories to continue building an efficient and effective IT infrastructure.

Those interested in viewing the solicitation may do so at the following link:

http://www.ok.gov/cio/Procurement/Solicitations/0900000055.html

Contact: Alex Weintz, Gov. Mary Fallin's Communications Director, 405-522-8819 or Ron Jenkins, Public Information Officer, Office of State Finance, 405-521-3267

SOURCE Oklahoma Office of State Finance